Oxford City’s Hannah England clocked a World Championships qualifying time at the first attempt as she made an outstanding start to the outdoor season on Monday.

England, who has just completed a four-year biochemistry degree course at Birmingham University, was a late entrant for the 1500m race at the FBK Games in Hengelo, Netherlands, on Monday.

And despite recently concentrating on her exams, England produced a stunning performance to clock a personal best and A qualifying standard of 4mins 05.87 secs in the IAAF Grand Prix meeting.

The pace was fast from the gun, with the pacemakers passing 400m in just over 60 secs and 800m in 2.04.75.

The field was well strung out, but England ran a steady race to finish strongly in seventh place.

The race was won by Ethiopia’s Gelete Burka in 3.58.79 – the fastest time in the world this year.

England, who missed out on last year’s Olympics, was delighted to have reached the qualifying standard for the World Championships so early in the season.

She said: “The race went just as I had hoped it would.

“I am really pleased with the way I ran, and to achieve the A standard for the world championships in my first race of the season is brilliant.”